Apr

The search continues…

Fri Apr 20th 2012 @ 2:50 am

So now what? Flip a coin? Given that I had just left the life of a high rolling gambler, that seemed somewhat inappropriate. During my search I had discovered that there are about as many ways to do church as Carter has Little Liver Pills. Again, I’m not going to name specific churches or denominations because I don’t want to offend anyone, but wow! I had to fight to keep from falling asleep in a couple of them and in another I had to leave shortly after the service began to keep from laughing out loud at what seemed to me at the time to be a noisy sideshow going on in the congregation: as a newbie, I had never heard about spirit-filled, charismatic, Pentecostal churches so I didn’t understand what was happening. I do now, and I apologize to the folks sitting next to me when I started snickering: never having experienced anything like this…especially the sweet, elderly woman sitting in front of me who suddenly jumped, up waving a handkerchief in the air, while wailing like a banshee… before slumping back into her pew. I was totally caught by surprise and I’m afraid I didn’t react very well. Sorry about that.

And so it went. I still had no clue as to where to look for the right church for me or how to know it if I found it. So I did some research…what should I be looking for? What do other seekers look for? The George Barna Research Group has pinpointed the top five reasons why Americans choose a church. A nationwide sampling of Americans was asked to list the factors that determine whether or not they return to a church they have visited. Of the 22 factors named, including worship styles and community outreaches, the top eight reasons for selecting a church, in order of importance, were:

1. Theological beliefs
2. How much people care
3. Quality of sermons
4. Friendliness to visitors
5. Help to poor and disadvantaged
6. Quality of children’s programs
7. How much you like the pastor
8. Denomination

What do you think? Are those the reasons you chose your current church? If so, in what order?   I’d like to hear from you on this one: there’s a comment box at the end of this blog. Just give me your top 2 or 3 reasons for joining your church?

As for me, I started looking for those eight reasons as I continued the search. Problem was, I didn’t know enough about theology to make a judgment in that area…other than to be sure the church I was visiting was Christian. I could have cared less about denominations and it’s almost impossible to determine most of the rest of those reasons in a single visit. So I was left with making a decision based on the quality of the sermons and the preachers and thus far, I hadn’t been moved to action.

I shared my dilemma with a new acquaintance and long time Christian. He looked at me and said, “Have you asked God to place you in the right church?” Duhh! Of course I hadn’t. Then he said, “If you’ll trust Him, He’ll let you know when you’ve found the right place…you’ll feel totally at peace.” Guess what? He was right. I did, God did and I joined. The pastor was dynamic…number one on my list of reasons…and delivered powerful sermons. After joining, I discovered that the other six reasons were there also, along with great music which I think should be one of the top five.

Which church did I end up joining? It was Ken’s church. I guess at that point, so early in my walk, God knew I wasn’t ready to be separated from my mentor and only Christian friend.

The search was over.

Epilogue:

If I had not joined a Church until I found one that was perfect, I would never have joined one at all! And the moment I did find one and joined it, it would no longer have been a perfect Church because I was now a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us… All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord’s people. How else is there to be a Church on the earth? If it is right for anyone to refrain from membership in the Church, it is right for everyone, and then the testimony for God would be lost to the world!

As I have already said, the Church is faulty, but that is no excuse for your not joining it, if you are the Lord’s. Nor need your own faults keep you back, for the Church is not an institution for perfect people, but a sanctuary for sinners saved by Grace, who, though they are saved, are still sinners and need all the help they can derive from the sympathy and guidance of their fellow Believers. Charles Spurgeon

Thought for the Day

Two many churches start at eleven o’clock sharp and end at twelve o’clock dull.

Turn the radio on

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Semi-interesting fact

The heart never takes a day off: The number of times a day the average heart beats: 100,000. The number of gallons of blood the average heart pumps each day: 2,000.

Forward…Mail!!

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Joke Du Jour

A man was marooned on an uninhabited island. 25 years later, he was rescued, but the rescuer noticed that there were three huts on the island. "What's that one for?" he asked. "That's where I live," said the rescued man. "And what's that one for?" asked the rescuer. "That's where I go to church." "What's that one for?" he asked. "That's where I used to go to church."

Questions I ask myself

If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

Really?? Actual News

'Sick' Titanic bathplug slammed   The makers of a bath plug designed to look like the Titanic sinking

have been criticized for being "distasteful and sick". A Titanic-like plastic ship attached to the 'Tubtanic' bath plug appears to sink when water fills the bath. According to markers Paladone it enables people to "re-enact the famous sinking-ship scene in the comfort of your own bathtub". However, following complaints about the product Paladone has apologized with spokeswoman Fiona Parkinson commenting: "We're sorry if anyone is offended. It's meant as a harmless novelty item." Ron Williams, who lost his uncle on the Titanic in 1912, comments: "I think it's terrible people are trying to make money from something that killed so many."

Picky, picky A San Francisco artist has marked the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking by creating a model of the doomed liner from a single toothpick.

Stephen J. Backman says he believes his replica is the world's smallest Titanic, or at least the smallest one made from a toothpick. The model is 1 5/8 inches from bow to stern -- the original was 882 feet, 6 inches -- but contains significant amounts of detail. Backman said the first step was to take the toothpick apart. "I cut it up into paper-thin pieces and then re-glue the toothpick back together," he told the Times in a phone interview Thursday. Backman, who made his first toothpick sculpture at the age of 5, is a specialist in toothpick art, both small and large. He has done replicas of the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid from single toothpicks, and celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate with a 13-foot replica crafted from 30,000 toothpicks.

She did what?? A woman has been arrested after allegedly breaking into a home and breastfeeding the householder's baby. The baby's mother says she found the intruder feeding her two-month-old infant at about 5am, in Brookings, South Dakota. The mother called 911 and managed to get her baby back from the woman who then laid on a bed until police arrived to arrest her. The 24-year-old suspect has been charged with unlawful occupancy. Alcohol is believed to have played a part in the incident.

Even her wrinkles are stylish 83-year-old model Daphne Selfe is making headlines this week for her age-defying beauty. But unlike so many of her younger contemporaries,

Selfe says she has never taken part in any cosmetic surgery.

"I've never had anything done to my face," she says. "Not that poison, not a facelift. I think it's a waste of money. Anyway, I couldn't afford it!'" She partly credits "good genes" for her longevity but says she also avoided drugs and alcohol while working in the industry. And how has she handled the aging process? "It's going to happen, so why worry? My generation got on with it," she told the paper. "I do find people are always complaining these days. I try to remain cheerful, not grumpy. I've developed glaucoma, but the drops I have to put in my eyes have made my lashes grow! So there is always a plus side.

"Doctors in Pakistan" are fighting to save the life of a baby boy born with six legs. The unnamed infant has a rare genetic condition, hospital officials said. The boy was born to the wife of an X-ray technician a week ago, Jamal Raza, the director of National Institute of the Child Health in Karachi, told reporters.

"It is not one baby actually. They are two, one of them is premature," he said. A doctor at the institute said the extra limbs were the result of a genetic disease which would affect only one in a million or more babies."The doctors are examining the infant to plan for necessary treatment to save the baby's life and ensure he lives a normal life," Imran Shaikh, the baby's father said he was grateful his son was being treated."We are a poor family. I am thankful to the government for helping us treating my baby," he told the media.

Milly the Puerto Rican Chihuahua hopes to punch above her 6oz weight and win a

place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest dog. Milly is just 2.5 inches tall and so small at birth she had to be fed with an eyedropper. A Guinness official is take her measurements to see if she beats current record holder Boo Boo, another chihuahua from Kentucky.

Cool Music

We’ve added more cool songs you’ve never heard on radio. Check the player on the upper right, click and brighten your day.

Are you kidding me???

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, named in the Bible's Book of Revelation are Conquest, Slaughter, Famine, and Death.

Groaner

A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He sidles up to the bar and announces: "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."

Point to Ponder

Show me a church where there is love, and I will show you a church that is a power in the community. In Chicago a few years ago a little boy attended a Sunday school I know of. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home. "They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply. "Why not?" she asked. "Because they love a fellow over there," he replied. If only we could make the world believe that we loved them there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller proportion of our population who never darken a church door. Let love replace duty in our church relations, and the world will soon be evangelized. D.L. Moody

Remember, Christianity is more about walking than about talking